The Siege of The Forever City
by J. Partridge III
Summary: A herald of evil falls from the sky, a madman plots to destroy his greatest enemies, and a family must trust a stranger from beyond space and time.
1. Prologue: The Sermon of Science

_Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of the Fantastic Four and/or Doctor Who characters used within this story. This is purely a work of nonofficial fan fiction. That's how these things work, right?_

Author's Note: This story takes place after FF #16/ Fantastic Four #604 and the Doctor Who story "The Big Bang".

**Prologue: The Sermon of Science.**

The Angel fell, not screaming, but laughing. It streaked across the cosmos in a state one could only describe as jovial. It was aware of how far, of how long, and…how painful it's journey was, but it cared not. It streaked from Heaven knowing something unknowable, but joyful. It relished its knowledge and could not wait to share the news with Humanity, with the devout and just.

Upon my discovery of The Herald, I wept. Oh, don't look at me that way, Doctor, I wept because it was proof of what people have called my "ravings" for years upon years. The Herald has already shared with me so much in its silence. Oh, of course it doesn't speak…not to anyone but me, at least. What? OF course, I am fine, woman! Oh, well…yes, I DO appear to be bleeding from the nose, WHAT OF IT! Why do you think I have called you here? It was the ANGEL'S WILL! It just sits, resplendent, in the laboratory, silently chuckling and allowing us to do our experiment, and what wondrous things we have found already. The gifts from on high it has bestowed on the devout, Dr. Rappaccini; from its flesh, we have found cells able to replicate themselves into living, breathing flesh reborn from NOTHING, from its casing we have found a bonding agent and alloy 50 TIMES THE STREIGHT OF ADIMANTIUM! From its hands, we have detected an energy source and weaponry system that carried the same readings and energy emitted from the Ultimate Nullifier. DON'T YOU SEE, DOCTOR? Can you not recognize the miracle that you see sitting before you?

And now, my dear doctor and tolerated colleagues, I will give it a voice…ready your faith to hear The Voice of God…I have followed it's instructions to the letter, and with but a mere flick of a switch I sha-


	2. Chapter 1: let there be light

**CHAPTER ONE: let there be Light…**

"JUST GET ON WITH IT, FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!" She yelled, finally fed up at the hunched, gleaming idiot standing in front of her.

The Wizard grunted, and then threw the switch, in typical Frankensteinian fashion. He limped over to a nearby console and then pushed up some sort of level control on a screen. Dr. Monica Rappaccini didn't know, and frankly, didn't care. She stood watching the proceeding freak show with a level of interest that could only be described as "D.M.V attendant". She tugged at her skirt and shifted her weight, as the great "super villain" The Wizard, Bentley Whitman, fiddled and toyed with machines that would have made a 90's IMac scoff in laughter. She heard one of her beehive suited henchmen that flanked her start to chuckle at the sight of this once great bastion of twisted science fumbling over him at the controls. Monica took his invitation to his base out of morbid curiosity. The Wizard was usually a self-righteous prig of a man, but he seemed…possessed, now and broken. He had recently hooked up with Reed Richards and his gaggle for some, no doubt, high-horsed daring do. Word was that Whitman was the first down and he turned tail and set coordinates for Splitsville at the first throw down. . She allowed herself to smirk; "Serves him right for being such a prick around the lab", she thought, gleefully.

She was the Head of A.I.M. for Christ's sake…why was she watching an armored version of a Time Square street prophet pump God knows what kind of chemicals and energy into this….waste. She gazed on it again, in almost pity. This…half a teapot with a shriveled, skeletal mass fused into the top, like a horrible shop class prank. She shuddered, not at the site of it; she had and was sure to see in the future, disgusting sites. You don't get to be evil without seeing what horrors you have wrought, and Rappaccini REALLY loves being evil. It was the thing's LIFE that disturbed her; its very being. The way The Wizard had described it; this chuckling mass of flesh and metal had fallen onto a nearby patch of land near The Wizard's base on Outlier Island. Studies of its fall pattern and trajectory suggested that it came from deep space, and SOMEHOW was alive, not only when it landed, but throughout the entire journey. Rappaccini didn't what to know how Witman knew this. The Wizard recovered it promptly before any notice was taken (by how could it be, out here in the middle of nowhere) and promptly set to work…

The thing was perforated in tech. The Wizard and his staff has erected a lab solely dedicated to, what Monica could only assume, this thing's resurrection. Its flesh was alive with tubes and hoses of numerous glowing and vicious liquids. Its metal underside was hooked into node after node and conductor after conductor, running up to the ceilings and to the various workstations surrounding the thing. The Wizard made a triumphant noise and then the fireworks began….but with that came the screaming.

The conductors sparked to life, shooting energy into the creature; tanks supplying the liquids started to bubble and churn and then the tubes gave forth their disgusting payloads and the thing felt every part of it. The Wizard dropped to his knees and held up his hands to the sky. "Don't you SEE, MONICA? I GIVE LIFE TO THE MESSENGER OF GOD!" He screamed over the din of science and advancement. Monica shielded her eyes from the light, but couldn't block the noise; nor did she think she ever could. The thing's flesh thrashed against nothing, for it wasn't bound or shackled in any way, it merely moved to try to escape itself, escape the pain of birth. Then it stopped, dead quiet. Not screaming, or laughing, or moving…but as it died, so did the power. The Wizard looked dumbstruck…

He sprang to his feet and scrambled to his machines. "!" He yelps as he pounded on his now dead consoles. Dr. Rappaccini snorted. "Figures," she breathed as she turned on her heels, drones doing the same "I shall send you a bill for my travels, Witman, thanks for wasting an entire day for me." She started to trot intensely toward the door of the lab. She never likes to admit it, but this is her favorite part of the whole villain thing: The Dramatic Exit. Lights. Blinding lights. Rappaccini let out a cry as the light pierced. She blinked and slowly her eyes adjusted, the machines were alive again, brighter and running some sort of code at full throttle. It was on all the screens. She looked toward the thing again and saw….something more.

The Wizard was back on his knees and he seemed to be…crying tears of the righteous, for The Messenger was awake and rebuilding. Its flesh morphed and molded and became solid again, clothes formed, mechanics restored and rebuilt on its underside and in the form of one robotic claw-like hand. Its eyes open, milky white and a blue glow started to emit from its forehead. It opened its puckered mouth, and a crackling and broken voice emerged, "Earth knowledge and technology extrapolated and absorbed." It turns its eyes to The Wizard. "Arise, Dr. Witman. You have done amazing works this day."

The Wizard rose, silently, and muttered a thank you. The creature turned its gaze now to Monica. It jerked forward and shook loose its shackles of rebirth as it moved toward Rappaccini, as if…rolling. Monica had no idea why, but she stood frozen, paralyzed by fear. Her drones started to raise their large, strange weapons of destructive science and before she could even mouth a word of orders the thing raised the robotic claw and two beam of white hot electricity burst forth from its fingers and they were gone. Atomized.

"Now, now…Dr. Rappaccini, I wish you no harm. Come we have much to discuss", it choked out as it glided toward the good doctor.

"But….what are you?" Rappaccini mewed as she found her voice.

"I am a scientist, like you, doctor. My name is Davros, now tell me everything you know about The Forever City…and this so-called High Evolutionary"


	3. Chapter 2: Tea Time at Sol's Anvil

**CHAPTER TWO: Tea Time at Sol's Anvil**

"So…that was fun." Bentley scoffed as his kicked at the dust. Valeria didn't hear him. She usually never heard Bentley anyway, so even in the face of complete and utter cosmic destruction and an impossible rescue from the depths of space and time, Valeria Richards STILL didn't care what Bentley had to say. She hunched to the ground and hugged her knees. She had just seen, nay orchestrated, the impossible. She squinted out at her father and grandfather, smiling and diligently working, and she thought, "I made this happen. This is MY win. So," and she hesitates. The thought had never even crossed her mind really. The thought that the end game would make her so….

"Bored…" she hisses through her teeth.

"Back with us, cadet?" Bentley tossed to her. Her reply is a noise that can only be quantified as a passage of air. "Bentley isn't even worth words" she thinks, bitterly as she gets to her feet. "My dad needs help." She offers as she makes her way to the massive structure where her family and class scattered about. "This is why they all do it." She muses, "People just need more and more of this so they keep wandering into insane situations." She has had tons of time to think about this in all the timeouts that she has endured in her short life, but if there is one thing that Valeria Richards knows, it's that she was born to be a super hero.

"I look amazing with a beard!" came the ecstatic voice of her brother, Franklin, as she reached the giant, arching control panels of Sol's Anvil. "Not gonna lie, kid, I am jealous of Future You's rocking chin growth." said Uncle Spider-Man, as he calibrated the massive controls. Valeria did her best to avoid Franklin's impromptu karate skill showcase as she made her way over to the controls that one of her many uncles fiddled over. She propped herself up on the control board and looked at her brother posturing across the room. He is one of the world's most powerful mutants. He has the power to create and destroy entire realities, and here he is…playing chop socky at the end of the world. Val allowed herself to smile. "Okay," she thought "I am way too grumpy without a power nap."

"Whatcha doing, Uncle Spidey?" she probed to the paper thin superhero as he fiddled about. The white and black mask twitched into what Val had come to realize as Uncle Spidey's Science Smile. He lifted his hand from the controls to lift his mask and confirm Val's suspicions. "HA! See I knew you wanted to talk about all this!" she tittered as she pointed an accusatory finger at the hero. Spidey raised his hands in mock alarm.

"Hey, you got me, kid, but you gotta admit, not only did we pull off some the greatest super science hero work this side of Asimov, but I get to hang out with hyper intelligent toddler that made it happen. We did great work today, you weirdo." Spidey grinned as he held his hand out of the awkward high fives that Val had come to adore. She held out her tongue as she targeted the elbow and took her shot. Their hands missed just to the left of one another. Val giggled despite herself. "We can work on it." The kid from Queens jabbed as he started working again. "This is a magnificent piece of machinery. Shame your dad can't just port it or something." Spider-Man said, displaying his seemingly endless font of small talk.

"It's safer deactivated, but I totally get it." Val admitted, sliding down to help with the process. "Where is my dad, by the way?" she asked as her hands moved almost instinctively across the ancient technology. She always felt better with some sort of tech underneath her hands. It was better than her baby blankets. "I saw them when I was out front with Bentley, but I lost them when I ditched him." She murmured through her work. Uncle Johnny says that she is her father's daughter in many ways, but that was the one that directly translated down the line; the ability to carry on conversation while de-constructing the very foundations of science.

"Him and your granddad, Johnny, and by inclusion, Johnny's new pet Annihilus, which is still kinda creepy by the way, all went into the ship to get it ready to take us back to The Baxter Building to help with the New York clean up. Franklin, of course," he quips as he shot Val a look through his big, black costumed eyes and jerked a thumb toward Franklin who is still honing his skill about the room.

"Hey, don't mind me guys!" Franklin chirped as he back fisted an invisible assailant. "You are just jealous that you guys only get computers when I get a pet Galactus!" He jumped into a wonky flying kick and Val couldn't help but smile at her big, stupid, Omega Level mutant brother.

"I swear you are adopted. I refuse to believe we are related despite the genetic evidence to the contrary." Val breathed as she made her way to the power couplings behind the console. She had no time for Franklin's, albeit entertaining, ridiculousness. There was another problem to solve, and by Newton, she was gonna solve it. There is was again. That creeping sense of never being done. Never wanting to stop. She hid herself behind the console as she messed about and readied herself to ask one of the world's greatest superheroes a very, very stupid question.

"Uncle Spider-Man…do you ever get…bored being a superhero?"

She was glad she had hid herself. She didn't want Uncle Spidey to see the creeping redness that she could feel from the boots of her Future Foundation uniform all the way up to her messy blonde hair. Spider-Man ceased his work and propped himself up on his elbows and gazed at the girl genius. "Now, this seems like a conversation I want to have. What's on your mind, kiddo?" he said, slipping into teacher mode again. Val screwed up her face in thought. "How can I word this without sounding stupid?" flashed through her mind as she opened her mouth to speak.

"You said that today we did great things, yeah?" she offered as she picked up a snake like power cord.

"Well, um. Yeah. Of course we did, you were right in the middle of it." Spider-Man retorted as he moved to prop his head up with his fist. "What is the point, Val?"

"Well…what about the time in between great things?" she said meekly. Even saying it she felt a bit ashamed.

"Ah. that kind of bored. I get it." Spidey said as he clicked his tongue in understanding. Val looked up at him with sad eyes. Spidey smiled and then displayed his amazing agility by vaulting over his hands and into a squatting position looking right into Val's face. Her eyes instantly sparkled when he jumped. The kids never get used to that and Spider-Man relished that fact. Got a sad kid, just handspring up and stick to the wall. Problem solved.

"That is what's great about the time in between. When you are fighting mad space gods you fail to see the poetry in motion that is your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man." Spidey earnestly stated as he back flipped from his sitting position onto his hands standing straight up. Val squealed, but then caught herself. She hated it when she did that. "The thing about it, kid, really is that-", Spidey started, and Val was pretty fairly sure that he actually had something to say that was worth listening to. She truly had been planning to listen to his words and then take them into deep consideration for the future that she just worked to ensure.

She would have done all these things and more if a proximity alarm hadn't blared out from her communicator watch.

"I. Love. Alarms. They usually proceed clobberin' times." Franklin squealed as he struck what could laughably be called a fight stance. "More crazy space gods to punk?!" he boasted as he jumped over to the pair. Valeria gave Spidey a rueful smile and raised the comm. up for inspection. She was met by the digitized face of her father, the ultimate genius, Reed Richards.

"Val, you need to get to the ship now. Scanners indicate some sort of…object headed toward Sol's Anvil and it appears to be in freefall. Everyone is accounted for, except for you, Franklin, and Spider-Man and I honestly don't know why I was shocked at all." Mr. Fantastic added with a wry smile. Val allowed herself to return it and nodded. "How much time do we have, daddy?" she asked as she begun the wild speculation. A freefalling object coming from the upper atmosphere could mean a great many things; shrapnel from the Kree or Annihilation Wave ships, OR maybe even better, armor plating from the Mad Celestials OR an even slightly better level of amazing, from Galactus himself. Val had always wanted to get her hands on just even an atom of that planet eating beauty. She figured just from one fingernail she could reverse engineer at least seven different forms of free self-sustaining power. She had written it all down in her Lisa Frank diary, but that was back in the ship….or perhaps blown up because it was back at the Bax-

"Less than two minutes, Val.", a voice chirped from her wrist. Val blinked and saw the masked face of Spider-Man and her brother staring sidewise at her. "You know just how creepy you look when you space out like that? You look like a dead fish." her stupid brother said flatly. Val shoved her brother over and focused. "On our way, Dad." Val said, back in Hero Mode. Spider-Man back flipped off the console and motioned toward the large arcs of the giant weapon. "After you, Power Pack." Spidey said through his stark mask.

Val gathered her backpack, and offered her hand to her idiot brother. Franklin took it and rose, pouting. "You kinda hurt me, like all the time. Its becoming a problem for me." he said sullenly. Val shoved him forward toward his super hero uncle. "Oh shut up and run, and if it makes you feel any better, I wish I had your sense of whimsy" As her brother loped forward, Val quickly fell into step and quickly overtook him and hurried out the door, just barely catching a glimpse of her brother's smirk creeping across his face. She squinted against the sun to try to catch sight of the whatever it was.

"C'mon God metal….C'MON….." she breathed to the dusty air. She saw her brother and Spider-Man running toward the hazy looking ship, still busy with activity. Val shrugged her backpack off and went to fishing around inside it. She was positive she packed her long range scanning binoculars. A loud CRACK echoed through the air. She whipped her head toward the horizon. She saw the unmistakable cone of clouds ripple through the blue of the sky. It had broken the sound barrier! Just how fast was this thing going and where in the name of Copernicus did it come from? It was a…box? Perhaps a crate? Maybe something from the cargo holds of some of the warring ships? Her hands found her scanner and she brought it to her eyes. Police Box. Pull To Open.

"What the whaaaaaa…." she heard herself mutter as she rose to her feet. She heard someone screaming her name. She didn't pay much attention. The thing was falling at an increasingly alarming rate, and unbeknownst to dear Valeria, but known to her panicking extended family that now desperately were trying to alarm her about as they rushed to grab her, the blue box was headed straight toward dear Valeria. A 1960's British Police Box was falling from the sky at the end of the world and a little girl was right it its way. Valeria Richards is no longer bored.

A strange sound ground through Val's ears. She was jolted from the wonder to realize her danger. As she lifted her foot to beat a hasty backwards retreat, the box seemed to crash like a wave of cosmic rainbow colors against the ground. Val felt a wave of temporal energy wash over her, sending her lightly skidding against the rocky ground. The strangely wonderful grinding sound echoed around them, as the box bled its cascading energies through what looked like an ancient lamp light affixed atop of the box. As the rainbow of colors bled through the lamp and faded into the air, the box became corporal. Val watched in awe as it became solid and it was…made of wood. Val felt herself scoff. It was Christmas.

The noise came to a ringing stop and the box stood, bold as brass in the shadow of Sol's Anvil. Val left herself start to lurch forward. Her hand extended out in front of her, almost instinctively. "Val, don't you dare." came a sharp, female voice. Val turned, as if underwater to see her family standing at a tense attention behind her. Reed Richards, Mr. Fantastic, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben "The Thing" Grimm; The Fantastic Four stood along with her brother, surrogate uncle Spider-Man and grandfather, Nathaniel, and the crouched, hissing form of Annihilus firmly in the grasp of Uncle Johnny, ready to greet whatever was about to come pouring out of this strange and wonderful celestial oddity.

"Val, please..." Sue said with a worried edge, holding her hands at the ready to create a force field. They had all just been through hell, and they were at the ready to beat back whatever super science space weirdness that was primed to pour from the box. Uncle Johnny and Uncle Ben said not a word, Ben just steaming in silent rage and Johnny steaming in a more literal sense.

"Don't worry, Mom. I don't thi-", Val started, when the door creaked open with an ancient sounding creak. The First Family snapped to attention and bore holes into the Police Box. The door hung, slightly ajar. The silence hung there. Val craned her neck to try to look into the odd thing, but even though the door hung open, she couldn't get a clear look into it.

The face popped through and Val could swear she even heard Uncle Ben gasp. The funny looking man with the foppish floppy hair and the ludicrous jutting chin seemed to shock the World's Greatest Super-Heroes into a relieved stupor. The ridiculous face spread into a nervous looking grin. How could this guy possibly pose a threat?

"Hello, there…" he said in a bright, but wary tone. The man stepped out of the box. He wore a tattered looking tweed coat, with an even more battered looking pair of boots, with rolled trousers, and bright red suspenders to match his smart looking red bow tie. He seemed to be holding a half broken beautiful china tea cup. Valeria Richards never had a chance. The man studied the crowd and a wide grin spread throughout his dumbly handsome face.

"Just….WHAT are you?" he said, almost a gasp. Val looked at the man's eyes and she could see the wonder and fascination that they brimmed with. Whoever HE was, he wasn't bored either.

Her father spoke up ("OF COURSE he did", Val thought grimly to herself). "I am Dr. Reed Richards, of The Fantastic Four, and head of The Future Foundation, citizen of the planet Earth. We mean you no harm. Please state your name and Galactic sector of origin."

"Well, Dr. Richards. I'm The Doctor. I'm from the planet Gallifrey, located near the constellation Kasterborous, and where do I sign to get one of those flash looking jumpers?"


	4. Chapter 3: What a Day it Has Been

**CHAPTER THREE: What Kind of Day Has It Been.**

He just stood there, for what seemed like hours. He just stood there…beaming.

Val honestly had no idea who he was, where he had come from, and just what he could possibly been a "Doctor" of, but she never once took her eyes off of him; this gangly, wisp of a man, wearing a professor's Sunday best, and clutching a broken tea cup. The wind wafted the dead air between the man and the heroes.

"Ok. I guess I gotta be the one ta' say it." Uncle Ben piped up gruffly. He started to crack his knuckles and shuffle his hulking body forward. "Start makin' some kinda sense or I start squeezin' ya until you do." He stated gruffly as he started to close in on the so called Doctor. The Doctor instinctively raised his hands and started to shuffle back in alarm toward his Police Box. Val felt her family stiffen all at once. When you are a Richards, the feeling of dread and uncertainly that comes before a meta-human encounter is ingrained into your genes and Val was standing on end as soon as she heard her Uncle speak up. Ben Grimm was a great many things; ace pilot, community activist, and all around sweetie, but when he was in the kind of mood he was, he wasn't exactly the guy you want speaking for humanity.

"Uncle Ben, I do-", Val started to say as her uncle reached for the lapels of The Doctor's jacket. "I really can explain _most_ of what's happening, I think if you could just-!" The Doctor stammered as he started to fumble behind him for the door of his box. Then the redhead popped out. As The Doctor fumbled backward toward the doors, they swung open and there in the doorway of the Police Box stood a particularly cross looking redhead and an extremely puzzled looking man standing next to her. Ben Grimm stopped cold and took in the scene. He placed his gargantuan hands on his hips and shot a look back to his family.

"Everyone sees the redhead and the yutz standing in that box, right?", The Thing flatly asked his teammates. "Damn right I do.", Piped up Johnny Storm as he started to make his way to the front of the pack, pulling the skiddering green gargoyle by his side right along with him. The hand of Reed Richards stopped him cold, and his gaze turned toward the new arrivals. "Everyone sees the rock monster with a New York accent, right." The man squeaked in a thick British accent. The Doctor beamed wide at the man and woman and proceeded to throw his arms around there shoulders as he spun in between them in the door way.

"Hey, watch it, Beaky. We've had a day and I'm still a touch touchy.", Ben seethed, pointing a giant finger toward the man, who started to shake at the sound of the first word from The Thing's mouth. "Right! So sorry, too busy being all enigmatic and vague, but in my defense, I was distracted by your uniforms," The Doctor offered brightly, as he released the couple and strode passed The Thing in front of the assembled mass in front of him. "I mean, look at them! You can't beat that! Functional and every form of swish. This isn't to say that bow ties still don't have their charms, but honestly, give me flash over substance in fashion any day. You look like, like, like, like, SUPERHEROES!" he gushed with a flourish, which the Fantastic Four all couldn't help smiling at.

The Doctor gathered himself and straightened the cuffs of his coat, then extended his hand toward Reed. "My name is The Doctor, I am a time traveler. The ginger you see standing in my doorway is Amelia Pond, the man beside her is her husband Rory, and we are, honestly and sincerely honored meet you." He said with an almost respectful earnest. Reed smiled warmly and grasped the man's hand and gave it a hearty pump. "We are always grateful when off-world don't try to incinerate us upon first contact, Doctor.", Mr. Fantastic said warmly, as he made his way toward Amy and Rory.

"Are you, though?" Amy finally piped up, in her thick Scottish brogue. "Are you…superheroes?". Reed shot a knowing glance toward his wife and brother-in-law and halted a good distance away from the couple. He outstretched his hand and his arm elongated with liquid fluidity toward the astonished Ponds. The Doctor's eyes got wider and wider as he followed Reed's arm. "Oh…my…word." He gasped as he whipped a long, metallic device from his jacket and went about waving at around in the direction of each family member, even stopping for a moment in front of Annihilus, until the creature snapped at his chin when he got too close.

Amy giggled nervously and inched her hand forward for Reed to take. She attentively shook and released, as did her new husband. Reed reshaped his arm to normal and turned his attention to The Doctor, who was muttered to himself, and sporadically cackling as he waved his tool around. Amy stepped down on the ground wearing an apologetic smile.

"Sorry. He does this. When he sees something he's never seen before, he scans it with the Sonic for a good, solid few minutes just out of pure delight." She said playfully, making her way toward the group. Sue sighed and broke into a wry smile. "I know the type." Sue said. "I'm Sue Storm. I can't apologize enough for Ben, but we have just quelled a rather...trying bit of business."

"And by situation, she means that I just saved the whole of the Earth." Johnny boasted as he slid in front of his sister, offering his hand toward Amy. "Hi there, Johnny Storm, and we aren't just superheroes, we are the world's greatest superheroes." Amy was about to take the stupidly handsome man's hand when she saw the odd hunched creature at his side, seemingly with a glowing chain hanging from his neck and running up his arm into an even odder humming rod. Amy cut her eyes upward into the blonde's still grinning face. He didn't realize just how insane it all truly looked. Johnny blinked and his smile cracked a bit. "But...seriously...w-world's greatest-," he started, but Amy curtly cut him off. "Wanna explain the bug at your feet, Surf City?". Johnny looked like he had stubbed his toe. It looked as if he started to speak several times, but never said anything, opening and closing his mouth a few times before finally getting out "That's Annihilus...it was...a whole thing.". Amy harrumphed in recognition and suppressed a snort when a hissed "heh heh heh" floated through the acrid air.

"Also, ignore Johnny, my ridiculous brother. In his defense, it was in fact, a thing. These are my children, Valeria and Franklin.", Sue said placing her hands on the her children's shoulders. Amy gave a bright smile and waved. Franklin returned the wave with gusto adding with it, "I like your box.". Amy chuckled and looked at Val, whose eyes were still trained on The Doctor, still scanning away. "And this is Reed's father, Nathaniel." Sue said motioning toward the grim looking man, who still was looking over all in silence.

"And I'm Spider-Man." Piped a voice from behind Reed; a wiry frame concealed in a sleek body stocking waved toward Amy and Rory, who both quickly gave awkward waves. "I'm totally a superhero too, but nobody seemed to want to introduce me soooo….", he said with a sarcastic edge.

"Honored to meet you, really it is." Amy said turning her bright eyes toward Nathaniel, who raised his hand, almost to block her sentiment. Amy recoiled and looked toward her husband leaning against the TARDIS doorway.

"Please, spare me. What my daughter in law has failed to ask, is where exactly did you come from and why are you here?", Nathaniel said grimly, training his eyes on the now stilled Doctor. Rory made his way over to his wife's side and slipped his hand into her's. "We're from Earth. This is Earth, right?." Rory said, plainly. Nathaniel shook his head and crossed his arms in front of him. "I've never heard of Kasterborous or Gallifrey, where are you from?"

The Doctor suddenly skidded in front of Nathaniel, brandishing his scanning device. "Enhanced generic structure throughout the entire family, plus the spider person. The armored insect appears to be some sort of lifeform from beyond the fabric of space, which is oddly enough only the fourth most interesting thing I've seen in the last five minutes. The massive amounts of temporal energy that is soaked into your very being, Nathaniel, that is, in fact, the most interesting thing that I've seen in the last five minutes, so," He said, eyes flickering all around the grizzled man in front of him. The Doctor wrung his hands and inched closer toward Nathaniel. "I think the real question is just where are you from, Nathaniel Richards?", The Doctor said with a sudden darkness. The two travelers locked eyes for what seems like ages. It reminded Amy of pictures she had seen from summit meetings of powerful generals and renowned scientists, but with a dreadful feeling of universal danger behind it.

"He isn't wrong, though, Doctor," Reed said, breaking the tension. "I have never heard of that star cluster or planet either." Reed strode forward between The Doctor and his father. As Nathaniel continued to bore holes in his foppish man, The Doctor clapped Reed on the shoulder and retreated back to his companions.

"Well, I think there is a very good reason for that." He said plainly and held up his broken tea cup. "It all started with tea…"

**6 Hours Earlier and A Universe Away. **

"How have you never seen The Thunderbirds?!" The Time Lord roared over the table toward a red-faced Rory Williams. "How have _you _never seen 2001: A Space Odyssey?", Rory the Roman yelled back in retort. They had been at this for almost an hour. Amy sat staring into her tea cup and occasionally darting her eyes around her beautiful surroundings. The Doctor had invited them to mid-afternoon tea (by slipping a note under the door of their TARDIS bedroom, no less) in what he had called Aft Tea Room Designate 6, which was just a fancy name for a tea room that The Ponds had never seen. It was beyond gorgeous; they sat in a sun drenched park, in a impeccably crafted wicker gazebo that The Doctor claimed to have erected during a stint marooned in deep space. The park itself was a manicured work of horticultural art with sprawling hedges and flowers from various planets and star systems. The tea spread was lavish, as tea spread with The Doctor tended to be; sandwiches, cakes, and a bottomless tea kettle that never dropped below or above optimal tea drinking temperature. This was all lost on Amy Pond, for she had been listening to The Doctor and her new husband yell at each other about space travel shows and movies, hell, she had ever forgot what actually brought it all on.

"That tears it! You and me and the ginger are headed to the cinema and you are watching Thunderbirds, Rory Williams and I will not be moved on that!", The Doctor said, standing with a righteous fury, threatening Rory with his empty tea cup. Rory stood in response, "FINE! But afterward, we are watching 2001. You...work in space! It's like an entertaining technical manual!", The Roman said with a condescending tone. "Possibly because I actually travel in space, so why would I want to watch a rubbish film about-"

The world turned upside down. Suddenly, the park rocked violently, sending the food and the people eating the food sprawling. Alarms blared, china shattered, and bums were bruised. Amy braced herself on the table as he got to her feet. "Thank the Lord for life threatening emergency.", she hissed as she looked around for her boys. The Doctor sprang up from behind a now ruined bush. He looked at his now shattered cup with bewilderment. "My word…what was that?", The Doctor breathed still staring at his cup. "Maybe the angry ghost of Stanley Kubrick?", Rory said matter of factly as he wiped splattered cake from his trousers. The Doctor shot him a contemptuous look, then the park rocked and tossed again, this time with more fury.

The Doctor was up and out of the room before the pitching and rolling stopped. Amy wobbled on her feet, but was steadied by Rory clutching her arms. They both ran after The Doctor, exiting the formerly idyllic surroundings. As the three ran down the roundel filled hallways, the TARDIS itself felt like it was going to shake apart. A grinding, tidal wave of noise filled Amy's ears as she tried to call for the Time Lord sprinting in front of them. As the halls shook, Amy and Rory steadied themselves on the walls as they attempted to keep up with The Doctor.

As they emerged in the expansive main control room, The Doctor set about trying to stabilize them by setting his hands to work on the sprawling console. Alarms still blared and Amy and Rory braced themselves on the railings and hoped for the best. The Doctor's hands moved in flashes around the console and the TARDIS ceased it's rocking, but still a tremble echoed through the timeship's walls that gave Amy a chill right down to her bones.

"Doctor, what is happening?!", she yelled over the din of the alarms. The Doctor typed, lightening fast, on his typewriter keyboard and the round view screen flickered to life. The expanse of space was filled with spectacular light. A column of pure energy seemed to split space itself. It was an endlessly cascading wall of radiance that The Doctor and his companions couldn't help but stare into with wonder, tinged with horror. "We're going in…" The Doctor muttered as he turned his attention back to the console. "Beg pardon?!" Amy bellowed as she gripped the railing tighter. The Doctor frantically worked, occasionally releasing a pained expression of frustration. "It's a pure temporal tunnel, the likes I've never seen! It's the raw power of the Time Vortex itself in open space! It's pulling in anything with a pure Chronon signature and rocketing it to where every it's pointed!" The Doctor yelled, defeated as he tried to pilot his ship to safety. The TARDIS crashed through the wall of energy with a ear shattering bang and Amy Pond squeezed her eyes tight and saw only darkness.

**Back In The Shadow of Sol's Anvil**

** "**So, I piloted the tunnel as best I can, and as far as I can tell, we not only traversed time, but did a bit of reality hopping as well." The Doctor said brightly, finishing his story to the rapt audience of The Fantastic Four. Reed rubbed his chin thoughtfully and took all this new information in. Sue turned to him with a knowing expression on her visage. "Val and Franklin's time portal?", she whispered to her super genius husband. He replied with a slight nod. The Doctor's ears perked. This was turning out to be the best possible accident.

"It looks like you caught a ride with future us." Val squeaked. She had wanted some sort of open door for her to talk to the stranger and what better way than to introduce a time traveler to ANOTHER time traveler that wasn't dour old Grandpa. The Doctor's smile spread across his goofy looking face again and Val felt herself blush.

"As you can see, Doctor, things have been pretty busy for us lately, but you have the full resources of my research labs back in New York to help you get back to your universe." Reed Richards offered to the man out of time and his companions. The Doctor wrung his hands in excitement and darted his eyes to The Ponds. "There are labs now!" he said with the excitement of a ten year old boy. Amy sighed in exaggerated annoyance. "We'll never leave now…" she breathed to her husband. A chirping sound echoed through the air. Reed turned his attention to his wrist and started to mutter to a communication device. After a terse few seconds, he looked up and addressed his family.

"Captain America needs us back in New York for aid in clean up. Johnny, you get the kids back to the ship and prepare for departure. Ben, please be so kind as to grab The Doctor's ship and place it in the cargo hold.", he said with a practiced authority. Reed Richards stepped in front of The Doctor and The Ponds.

"How would you like to meet some more superheroes?", he said with a smirk.


End file.
